You spoke. We listened. We know that you look forward to Solid Edge University each year, but that a single location meant that it was difficult for some of you to attend. Based on this feedback, we thought about how to make a better experience for you, our users. Since the close of Solid Edge University 2016, we’ve been testing out new ways to bring you everything you loved about previous years’ events, in a format that makes it easier for our users, across the US and around the world, to participate.

Now, with support from our partners, we are very pleased to announce that we are expanding our Solid Edge University program globally, with multiple one-day Solid Edge University events to be held around the globe, including additional US locations.

Same great content. Easier to attend. These global Solid Edge University events will offer more Solid Edge customers the opportunity to learn first-hand what’s new in Solid Edge, improve their productivity, and network with other users. Solid Edge University events provide both new and experienced Solid Edgers countless ways to hone their skills, and to connect with Siemens staff, local partners and expert users.

Official details on dates and locations will be posted soon. We’re looking forward to seeing you!

I understand where you're coming from @SeanCresswell. With the potential to have a SE event in New Zealand, it's easy to get excited. But, realistically, it's New Zealand. No one is traveling that far regardless of how beautiful it is there.

Our goal is to provide the SEU experience to more Solid Edgers via increased global events, including more US based regional events. Through feedback from users who do not attend SEU, the number one reason given is cost. Typically that falls into two categories; cost related to travel and cost related to time away from the office.

Also I'd like thank you for your contributions as a presenter at previous SEU events. I encourage you to continue that trend as we move forward. Select an event (or events) that you wish to present at and we'll doing everything we can to help accommodate you.

We continue to work with our partners and vendors to ensure these events reach as many users as possible. I think what you'll find (and our recent studies have proven), is that we'll be able reach more users on a global and US basis than we have been able do in recent years in a single event.

I see a lot of pluses and minuses. We will see how it goes and give feedback then.

It is likely to reach more people, but some presenters may be unlikely to repeat in multiple locations. Has there been any talk of capturing sessions on video and making them available online to the community?

This would be a dream come true if one of the locations is in India. I have been pitching for this with Siemens PLM for years about conducting a SEU out here with a huge user base and plenty of people willing to present and participate.

This will lead to democratization of the event which was largely centered in just one part of the world and it seems that Siemens has realized they have a substantial user base spread across the globe, I believe they were waiting for a critical mass of users to be achieved for local events.

Although opportunity to meet in person is one of the top attractions of SEU, the greater goal of knowledge sharing can still be achieved by ultimately sharing all presentation videos online.

So twitter is active with today's (May 23) event, calling it Solid Edge University in Greenville.

Yet, I've recieved nothing about any SEU events. How do I know there will be one in my region? What if I can't attend that one? Will I get a notice about other regions so I can potentially go there instead?

Community members, my apologies for the delay in responding to your comments and questions. As suggested above, I wasn't receiving notifications (tags) when comments were being made to this thread (now fixed).

To address some of the questions raised:

SEU events will be held regionally throughout the US in conjunction with our channel partners. On a global basis we are working with both our country managers and channel partners to to identify locations for SEU events. As the locations and dates become available they will be posted to the SEU webpage. We are also working to provide direct links from the SEU webpage to specific event registration pages based on location.

Depending on the timing of the SEU event, obviously "What's new in Solid Edge" sessions will be held along with other sessions. Just like in other previously held SEU events.

Regarding "Developer Day", we are interested in finding ways to continue this important initiative. One option is to bring Developer Day to Huntsville, where a large percentage of Solid Edge development is managed. Your thoughts on this suggestion?

Data Management continues to be an important topic to our users and you should expect a session or two to be dedicated to this topic. We will work with our channel partners to determine the best mix of product sessions to be included in an SEU event.

Product Roundtables represents another area where we could host using an alternative method, such as a virtual meeting (possibly a lunch and learn type format as an example) for discussion. This would allow a greater opportunity to involve more users.

The format of these events will provide opportunities for networking during breaks and lunch.

Please keep in mind, our goal is to expose more users to Solid Edge University on a regional and global basis than was previously possible in a US centric (primarilly midwest based) event. We feel that moving to more regional events in the US and country based events for the rest of the world will accomplish this goal and will help drive greater awareness and involvement with our customers.

Can you provide the link to the "SEU webpage"? I can't seem to find it.

For planning purposes, should we read into this that there are no plans to do a multi-day event in the near future or that would require significant travel planning? Outside of perhaps a Developer Day in Huntsville (which would work for me).

The Solid Edge University webage I was referring too is currently being redesigned and content updated in support of our expanded Solid Edge University global program. I'll post a note here as soon as it up and running.

A little late to the party, but I don't see the SEU webpage being up and running yet. Honestly, a one day event is of little use to me. I come for the classes on the newest version, not the dog and pony show. A one day event does not leave any time for training classes of any real use after you get thru with the welcome/keynote etc.

You claim some have issues with the amount of time away from the office and/or the travel cost. Travel cost is a sunk cost. It will cost almost as much to pay mileage for an event 300 miles away as to fly to an event 1000 miles away. Top tip - hold the event in a major airline hub - cuts flight costs for all who fly. Next tip - host the event at a decent hotel away from the downtown area - one that doesn't have the gall to charge for wifi and parking on top of their $200+ room rate. Parking and wifi are free at fleabags, not to mention almost all decent midlevel hotels.

As far as time away from the office goes, that one doesn't hold water either. I can justify 5 days out for 3 days of training easier than I can justify 2-1/2 or 3 days out for one day of presentation with no real hands on time of any value. The value equation simply isn't there. Sorry, but I would much rather spend $1500 for some value added training, than $1000 for essentially a show. For those who cannot get away for that long, your VAR should be able to assist you with some training.

If this is the way SEU is going, I will spend my money travelling to my VAR or another one to take some classes. I can tour a brewery on my own time. I appreciate the networking opportunities, but those will vaporize as well if the event is this short.

Competition in the Cad market is tough. I’m constantly fighting my users and suppliers on why Solid Edge is a better option than Solidworks, Inventor or Por-E.

Marketing strategies make a huge difference. We users all know that Solid Edge is better, but casual users and specially new Cad users don’t. They are constantly bombarded with excellent marketing materials, including awesome events (like SEU). Discontinuing SEU (this is what I see is happening), will hurt SE more than you thing. This is the only event where the whole community gets together. Where we can see and interact with 3th party applications. An opportunity for SE to shine in the CAD market with first class speakers. I believe this will take SE back to the dark.

I totally agreed with @JTRANOKE, I rather spend $1,500 in an event I can justify to my superiors than a few hundred in an unjustifiable event just for fun.

A few more comments. Making it a one day regional event reduces it to a highly focused trade show. It is hard for someone in Engineering to justify money to attend a trade show focused on something he has already purchased. My money for attending SEU comes from the Training budget, so again, where is the training?

If part of this is an attempt by Siemens to save money, fine. Hold it in Huntsville. That is reasonably accessible. Or hold it in Atlanta, but maybe somewhere outside of I-285 near the airport. Willing to bet it is much cheaper than Midtown like the last time it was in Atlanta. Easy for air travel, and downtown Atlanta is easily accessible by MARTA if someone wants to be a tourist while they are there. Do the networking events at the hotel, instead of the tour busses and local attractions. The entertainment is the gingerbread and while nice, is not necessary. The training and networking are the meat and potatos and that is what most of us are there for.

My other comment concerns the fact that these events seem to already be happening without notification or publishing on the site. Had I wanted to go, I missed SEU Greenville SC without an email notification or any SEU 2017 Website even existing. Got a Siemens email with a RECAP after it was over. So I guess if you are not on the hosting VAR's email subscription, you aren't going to know about it. And that was an easy 5 hour drive from me. Looks like Ally PLM has just announced their event in Cincinnati since my last post above, or Google missed it last time... Still no notification or website from Siemens/SEU group. This whole transition is being so poorly handled, or not handled at all that it is just pathetic. These events may be very nice events, but from the published agendas that I have hunted down on google, they are NOT SEU. No mention of "hands on" sessions or real training. I can watch demos all day long from my desk. The "U" in SEU is University. Please bring back the real SEU.

I got my email from Ally about this one. No published agenda yet. Cincinnati is a bit of a drive (7 hours) for a one day event for me, and a horrible flight - takes as long to get there flying as it does driving... Yeah its cheap at $50 but with no designated hotel (at this point) the networking is out the window. Where will everyone be the night before or the night after? I just don't see these as being all that useful, except for people who are considering switching to Edge, or looking at add-ins, as I imagine it will be loaded with salesmen selling productivity tools.

SEU has been changed from a learning event into a wine tasting. A few sips but no opportunity to dive into what you like. Just an opportunity to purchase and take home....

Interesting that the first words were "you spoke, we listened". Is anyone listening now?

Guys, I hear your frustrations and we are working to roll out the updated SEU page with dates and locations of upcoming SEU events. We are targeting having it up and live by mid to late next week. Thank you for your patience.

@RichardRunnells - Any news on the possibility of a larger - multiday perhaps - hands on training event? Something a little more than Demo's? I enjoy the demo's, but I didn't learn how to drive from a powerpoint! It is much more effective to grab the mouse and joystick and go to town with Doug Stainbrook and Dan Vinson et al telling me what I am doing wrong! Does not have to be nearly as fancy as previous events, I don't care if you hold it in a barn, honestly. Just bring back the real deal. And don't forget the developer days and roundtables. Although I am not a developer I have heard that the developer days are of tremendous value to those who are. And if the roundtables go away, I guess the software updates/versions/improvements will be totally based on what Siemens thinks the end user needs, not what the end users KNOW they need...

This is the first I've seen of the mult-event SEU and it looks like the Greenville event was held a month ago without any notification - from anyone - Solid Edge or my VAR! This thread has been going on for over a month and I stumbled on this by chance without any notification. What has happened to the marketing department? I posted in another thread that I'm in a wait and see mode. Well, I'm seeing enough to make me nervous, disappointed and a little upset. I've been to several local meetings around Atlanta including the Productivity Summits - (pre SEU 2011 where things seemed to have gotten back on track). SEU is a completely different experience. Being able to attend classes and get in depth information is not going to happen in a one day event - you might as well have a webinar or send out links to Youtube videos. At this point, I don't think you've been listening to users. Why don't you go ahead and tell us what the real situation is and not some spin. It has omninous looks of the EDS days.

We use to send 7-8 guys to SEU, every year. So far it was worth, mostly because the hands on TRAINING and the round tables with Siemens. It is sad to see that it is gone. After reviewing the agenda of past and future events, I’m canceling this item from my budget. We are not to spend that money for a sales presentation. The new format may be good for new users, but definitely not good for my “experimented “ team.

I normally just hidden in the shadows of these fourms but siemens seems to think that face time with customers is not worth it for them anymore. For someone that is located in a smaller city in canada(Winnipeg) there is little to no networking available for solid edge. Also being a full time automation developer using solid edge the only real time to get face to face time to talk with other skilled developers was at solid edge univsersity. And to be 100% percent honest if it wasn't for the developer day back in 2012 i wouldn't be doing the work i do today. Now with a team of 4 engineers doing nothing but automation programming work. The developer day was something that i was hoping they would get exposed to. It's one thing to do work based on your companies requirements but its a whole other thing to see and be exposed to how others are using solid edge. This exposure also helped my team support the 90+ engineers we have on staff. As for having the solid edge university site up kudos to you except that the canadian event is already over with. So that was a slight failure on your part and the canadian VARs. I am not sure who you've been talking to about how these events are planned but i would like to say that they are wrong. I would bet there are more people such as my self that dont enjoy or feel the need to speak up in these fourms. I hope this is not a sign of the approach that siemens is planning for the future of their customer experience.

But I thought that Siemens PLM multi-day event was actually PLM World event. @RichardRunnells Does this mean that we will be seeing more Solid Edge events at PLM World? It was my understanding that PLM World venue was to expensive for the normal SE user base customers. But then there are the RUGs (Regional User Groups). I know that the MidWest RUG usually has a SE track.

Granted it isn't well attended in my area. Why? Easy. Lack of communication. Now don't go thinking that is a VAR issue. VARs only know about their own accounts. I know from a Siemens side if they send information out the messages get sent to the single contact on the Master Configuration. It has been my experience that that information is usually an IT person (who could care less and gets 100 different emails a day from "vendors") or the information is out of date and goes to dead mailbox. Hence the word doesn't get out to the right people.

If Siemens wants to get the word out...then lets first start at the core and work your way out. Contact the right people.

Very disappointing that SEU has been turned into a 1-day update meeting!! We look forward to attending SEU to network with the development teams and other users. It’s hard to justify the expenses to management for a 1-day meeting. Siemens has been dropping the ball on supporting Solid Edge and now they are dropping the ball on user networking. Just disappointing!!!